Guild Wars 2

Hi everyone,

I’ve been enjoying my Sword/Sword + Rifle build for a while now and though I know it’s not as effective as Greatsword+Longbow, it’s a lot more fun so I’m sticking with it for now. I’ve been running tests in the Heart of the Mists, though, and near as I can tell, Berserker gear is pretty much always better for Sword than anything hybrid, even in spite of the impressive bleed stacking it can manager. Even against heavy golems, Berserker gear still goes even with Rampager and beats Carrion in time-to-kill when just using autoattacks, and it beats the pants off both of them when I throw in the Burst skill and Final Thrust. These differences seems to hold even when I use Condition damage runes and sigils and grows even wider when I use Power runes.

Is there some way I can beat out pure Berserker gear with a hybrid set? Am I missing some obvious option? This would mostly be for dungeons, by the way.

Thanks!

the torment on sword may not be all that useful for pve, but i do remember a build a while back using offhand axe and the #5 skill to apply stacks of bleed very quickly. basically a high crit-chance bleed build.

Brawl.5178:

the torment on sword may not be all that useful for pve, but i do remember a build a while back using offhand axe and the #5 skill to apply stacks of bleed very quickly. basically a high crit-chance bleed build.

Ah, interesting. Would you need Sinister gear for that or would Rampager suffice?

Blaine Tog.8304:

Brawl.5178:

the torment on sword may not be all that useful for pve, but i do remember a build a while back using offhand axe and the #5 skill to apply stacks of bleed very quickly. basically a high crit-chance bleed build.

Ah, interesting. Would you need Sinister gear for that or would Rampager suffice?

Neither, use Rabid, that’s the best condition gear set for warriors from a pure condition damage perspective, with runes of the undead.

Balsco.3682:

Blaine Tog.8304:

Brawl.5178:

the torment on sword may not be all that useful for pve, but i do remember a build a while back using offhand axe and the #5 skill to apply stacks of bleed very quickly. basically a high crit-chance bleed build.

Ah, interesting. Would you need Sinister gear for that or would Rampager suffice?

Neither, use Rabid, that’s the best condition gear set for warriors from a pure condition damage perspective, with runes of the undead.

I disagree regarding rabid. I have a set, and it was the go-to spec (along with undead runes) a couple of years ago when condi warrior was briefly a thing, but the condi pressure (and diversity) of warriors means its damage output pales in comparison to direct damage warriors or more condi-friendly classes. Also, when Krait came along, it became a much better choice than Undead as far as runes goes.

Hybrid’s a much better route for warriors than pure condi. I can’t say I know the optimal gear set, but I doubt it matters for pve. If you can survive on zerk in normal circumstances, I don’t see any reason to think Sinister wouldn’t be the best choice.

Rampager’s less optimal because you don’t need more precision than what Sinister would give you, so you’re trading out Condi damage for no real reason. On the other hand, it’d be easier to acquire.

Choppy.4183:

Balsco.3682:

Blaine Tog.8304:

Brawl.5178:

the torment on sword may not be all that useful for pve, but i do remember a build a while back using offhand axe and the #5 skill to apply stacks of bleed very quickly. basically a high crit-chance bleed build.

Ah, interesting. Would you need Sinister gear for that or would Rampager suffice?

Neither, use Rabid, that’s the best condition gear set for warriors from a pure condition damage perspective, with runes of the undead.

I disagree regarding rabid. I have a set, and it was the go-to spec (along with undead runes) a couple of years ago when condi warrior was briefly a thing, but the condi pressure (and diversity) of warriors means its damage output pales in comparison to direct damage warriors or more condi-friendly classes. Also, when Krait came along, it became a much better choice than Undead as far as runes goes.

Hybrid’s a much better route for warriors than pure condi. I can’t say I know the optimal gear set, but I doubt it matters for pve. If you can survive on zerk in normal circumstances, I don’t see any reason to think Sinister wouldn’t be the best choice.

Rampager’s less optimal because you don’t need more precision than what Sinister would give you, so you’re trading out Condi damage for no real reason. On the other hand, it’d be easier to acquire.

It’s the difficulty involved in crafting Sinister that has me trying to decide between Rampager and Berserker (which I already have). Berzerker > Rampager according to my tests, so unless Condi > Berzerker, I don’t see much point in switching.

Blaine Tog.8304:

It’s the difficulty involved in crafting Sinister that has be trying to decide between Rampager and Berserker (which I already have). Berzerker > Rampager according to my tests, so unless Condi > Berzerker, I don’t see much point in switching.

Totally agree, and I almost always run full zerk myself.

That being said, one of the advantages of something like a Sinister hybrid over Berserker is your output of two distinct damage types.

I experimented with a hybrid build (didn’t have Sinister), and I found the combo of direct and condi allowed me to down people who were well set up against direct damage (what I normally do) because the condi bypassed their defenses. Similarly, I was able to pressure builds that had good condi removal through my direct damage output.

One nice thing about condi over direct is its “death by a thousand cuts”, meaning it’s harder for an opponent to dodge your big hits because there aren’t many of them, which makes mitigation through dodging less effective than against direct damage.

So even though Berserker may put out better raw dps, there’s something to be said for having diversified damage. Of course, in principle, you’ll be less effective against builds with primarily anti-condi defense than if you used pure zerk.